Remember the film version of Jerome Robbins’s New York Export: Opus Jazz that NYCBallet dancers Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi had planned — and begun — to make in 2007? If not, I wrote about it here and here when a completed scene (pictured above) that was filmed in Manhattan’s High Line starring Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall had been shown at NYCB and the Guggenheim.
Well, as of August 24, 2009, filming has resumed thanks to WNET (New York’s PBS station), who has acquired the film for its excellent Great Performances: Dance in America series.
The team — which consists of Bar, Suozzi, and filmmakers Henry Joost, Jody Lee Lipes, Matt Wolf and Anna Farrell — is currently scouting locations to shoot the remaining four movements of the 28-minute ballet (the film will consist of the ballet, interspersed with documentary coverage and narratives of the dance’s characters and their background stories). Each danced movement is to be filmed in a different part of the city (to capture NY’s different moods) and will be danced by NYCB dancers.
WNET plans on a broadcast sometime in the Spring of 2010. I’m really hoping it shows on other local PBS stations outside of New York as well, please please PBS — so everyone else can see it! This is the first Robbins ballet to be filmed since West Side Story. I will keep you updated on times and stations, and you can check the project’s Website and Facebook page as well.
In the meantime, here’s a trailer:
I think this has the potential to be absolutely FANTASTIC – the behind-the-scenes pictures, etc. look *in-credible*! … it must be a ton of work, and exhausting, but, Wow! – to be a part of that! I can't wait to see the final result (–heck, I bet the cutting-room floor edits are amazing!)
*I really can't wait for this!*
more great pictures, and cute videos:
http://weareopusjazz.blogspot.com/
Sept 10th FREE performance:
New York City Ballet will perform an adaptation of “NY Export: Opus Jazz” by the legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins, in McCarren Park Pool. Set to a rousing jazz score, the movements blend ballet, jazz, and ballroom dancing with Latin, African and American rhythms, to create a style that is powerfully expressive, sexy and contemporary.
Directors Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes are filming the “ballet in sneakers” for premier as part of Channel 13's Great Performances/Dance in America series. This is the first of Robbins' works to be adapted for the screen since West Side Story.
A fleeting chance for one last dance in the Pool as we know and love it, on Thursday, September 10th, from 5-7:30 pm at McCarren Park Pool (Lorimer between Driggs and Bayard).
The event is FREE. Of course, we welcome your tax-deductible donations to help OSA continue to improve North Brooklyn's parks: http://www.osanb.org
Sept 10th FREE performance:
New York City Ballet will perform an adaptation of “NY Export: Opus Jazz” by the legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins, in McCarren Park Pool. Set to a rousing jazz score, the movements blend ballet, jazz, and ballroom dancing with Latin, African and American rhythms, to create a style that is powerfully expressive, sexy and contemporary.
Directors Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes are filming the “ballet in sneakers” for premier as part of Channel 13's Great Performances/Dance in America series. This is the first of Robbins' works to be adapted for the screen since West Side Story.
A fleeting chance for one last dance in the Pool as we know and love it, on Thursday, September 10th, from 5-7:30 pm at McCarren Park Pool (Lorimer between Driggs and Bayard).
The event is FREE. Of course, we welcome your tax-deductible donations to help OSA continue to improve North Brooklyn's parks: http://www.osanb.org